Capitalism, Such As It Is

The historical debate is over. The answer is free-market capitalism. ~ Thomas Friedman

The market is not an invention of capitalism. It has existed for centuries. It is an invention of civilization. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev

The ideology of capitalism makes us all into connoisseurs of liberty – of the indefinite expansion of possibility. ~ Susan Sontag

Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone. ~ John Maynard Keynes

The problem of social organization is how to set up an arrangement under which greed will do the least harm – capitalism is that kind of a system. ~ Milton Friedman

Capitalism is the legitimate racket of the ruling class. ~ Al Capone

Chicago is the product of modern capitalism, and, like other great commercial centers, is unfit for human habitation. ~ Eugene V. Debs

A criminal is a person with predatory instincts who has not sufficient capital to form a corporation. ~ Howard Scott

Capitalism has destroyed our belief in any effective power but that of self interest backed by force. ~ George Bernard Shaw

Worldwide capitalism kills more people everyday then Hitler did. And he was crazy. ~ Ken Livingstone

Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate. ~ Bertrand Russell

Capitalism and the market are presented as synonymous, but they are not. Capitalism is both the enemy of the market and democracy. ~ David Korten

Capitalism is not about free competitive choices among people who are reasonably equal in their buying and selling of economic power, it is about concentrating capital, concentrating economic power in very few hands using that power to trash everyone who gets in their way. ~ David Korten

Capitalism inevitably and by virtue of the very logic of its civilization creates, educates and subsidizes a vested interest in social unrest. ~ Joseph A. Schumpeter

If I had to give a definition of capitalism I would say: the process whereby American girls turn into American women. ~ Christopher Hampton

History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition. ~ Milton Friedman

Socialism is nothing but the capitalism of the lower classes. ~ Oswald Spengler

In the Soviet Union, capitalism triumphed over communism. In this country, capitalism triumphed over democracy. ~ Fran Lebowitz

There is a serious tendency toward capitalism among the well-to-do peasants. ~ Mao Tse-Tung

Capitalism is an art form, an Apollonian fabrication to rival nature. It is hypocritical for feminists and intellectuals to enjoy the pleasures and conveniences of capitalism while sneering at it. Everyone born into capitalism has incurred a debt to it. Give Caesar his due. ~ Camille Paglia

The dynamo of our economic system is self-interest which may range from mere petty greed to admirable types of self-expression. ~ Felix Frankfurter

Capitalism is what people do if you leave them alone. ~ Kenneth Minogue

The evolution of the capitalist style of life could be easily – and perhaps most tellingly – described in terms of the genesis of the modern Lounge Suit.” ~ Joseph A. Schumpeter

The crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career. ~ Albert Einstein

If you like capitalism, you will positively love depressions, because they are one and the same, like manic-depressives and their cycles, like spouse-abusers and their storms of violence. ~ Kenneth Smith

Capitalism without bankruptcy is like Christianity without hell. ~ Frank Borman

Unemployment is capitalism’s way of getting you to plant a garden. ~ Orson Scott Card

A tension has always existed between the capitalist imperative to maximize efficiency at any cost and the moral imperatives of culture, which historically have served as a counterweight to the moral blindness of the market. This is another example of the cultural contradictions of capitalism – the tendency over time for the economic impulse to erode the moral underpinnings of society. ~ Michael Pollan

There is hardly anything in the world that some man can’t make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man’s lawful prey. ~ John Ruskin

When we truly discover love, capitalism will not be possible and Marxism will not be necessary. ~ Will O’Brien

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This site offers a daily column on current events, and unlike other blogs, in long form. Short posts pointing to this and that and saying "Oh my!" seems a bit lazy. Columns here are an attempt to think things through. If you'd like to come along for the ride, fine. If you have neither the time nor patience for that, that is also fine - you can click on the LINKS tab at the top of the page and visit the sites that offer quick hits. Those provide the raw material for the analyses here.

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